Manus Celer Dei

hi there, good to see more people playing the zone. I might see you around during the semester break. You may label yourself as a n00b, but seeing as you're from an SVS zone you probably won't be for long (give it a couple of weeks), happy hunting.

*remembers he's supposed to moderate this forum* *looks around* *nods* "yep. reckon." -I see the old bar thread kinda died off. If I get enough of a showing I'll start a new one when I get more time aye? -

I'm so glad I live in a country where I can stick my head in the sand and ignore the outside world without fear of someone flying planes into our tall buildings or flying over them dropping cluster munitions behind my back. Ahhh New Zealand, noone hates us enough to bother. (which is good because our government sold off our entire air combat wing a short while back)

Has the lanc been changed since I left? The one that 17th was using at the start of the year was perfectly fine in relation to the other ships, true I didn't like the whole greening for shrapnel thing, and I thought that we should go back to the older method whereby just picking up one shrapnel green would max out your shrap, but if it gets changed back to the bounce--*BAD WORD*- ship it was before people will get SOOO mad at me when I get back.

As old skool as a Mavyn wb turret Just letting you all know before I get back that I'll be stuck on a 256k connection and I *will* lag. This doesn't mean I couldn't still kick your !@#$%^&*es if I was on a T3. :swift: (edit) I'm studying Applied Computing at Waikato University, things are good, despite the whole "I'm a student therefore I have no money" thing, it's my second degree, my first being a Bachelor of Information Systems that I earned at Manukau Ins!@#$%^&*ute of Technology. When I come back I may or may not appear under a different alias just to fool you all.

Hi everybody Just dropping a line saying I haven't forgotten you lot since I gone back to study. No doubt I'll be back during the semester break teaching humility to some uppity n00bs or sitting in spec -*BAD WORD*-ing about how I can't play SS on the university network. See you round.

At the bar several soldiers are chatting away to Manus about recent happenings in Alliance space, and Manus in turn tells them about the strange events surrounding the station as of late. As the evening wears on, one of the soldiers challenges Manus to a duel. Onlookers are shocked when Manus takes the genetically engineered cyborg up on his offer, and expect to see bits of Manus strewn about the bar any second. But they just look at each other silently for a few minutes. Soon they both break out of their concentration and the soldier turns to his grinning compatriots "how the -*BAD WORD*-?", they laugh, explaining slowly that he should have recognised Manus for who he is and that he was lucky to have lasted as long as he had against the former second-in-command of the 9th Fleet.

Out of character *watches silently at the action* *casts Isaacs Greater Missile Storm on 2 people at random*

Frog Blast the Vent Core!

*After engaging and overwhelming the Terran Fleet, the Kanatis squadrons re-engaged their ZTT drives and entered the Tau Ceti System. The Cetan defence forces, quickly thrown into disarray at the sudden appearance of a force far superior to their own, mobilised for a hasty defence of their homeworld* *An audio message began to play over the military communications freq "This is the Kanatis Alliance squadron flagship Kanatis Fury. We require supplies and fuel, we request that you open a Station for our use" The Cetan Premier, understanding the ultimatum for what it was, reluctantly agreed to the terms* *A small detachment of corvette class vessels dock at the 17th Parallel Station and begin to load the cargo pods that Manus had put on charter previously. At the same time Manus sent an encrypted implant transmission to the flagship, which went undetected by Cetan Intelligence.* *the Bar is now much more crowded than before, and many citizens are staying away from the Alliance Soldiers and their shielded exoskeletal armour.*

I find it a challenge trying to stay alive with 5 or 6 people after me, if I scorereset it gives them something to brag about after they finally get me. I do it for you, not for me

*Manus serves drinks while Ithkul Intelligence operatives question him about the firefight in his bar* *after the Ithkul agents leave, Manus posts a message on the station communications net offering a cargo charter to an unspecified destination* *In the Alliance border system of Tau Hydra, the 2nd assault wing and 4th Tactical wing of the Kanatis 3rd fleet engage their ZTT drives, leaving the system apparently defenceless. League monitoring posts are unable to pinpoint their destination.*

(I wouldn't recommend it, last time we did that it got a bit confusing sorting out the order in which events occurred) Manus turns to Apple while serving everyones drinks and points out that while he is from the Alliance, the Tau Ceti system is an independant and still uses a form of physical currency, but that he can pay in Alliance Credit if he wants.

Plus, do we really want lev turrets on the fastest ship in the zone?

*Manus serves Apple an Aldebaran Crusher* "Which mysterious guest would that be? The confused guy? The walking targetboard over there in the cloak? or that one wearing the really old fashions?" (ooc)If you ALL intend to be "mysterious", it makes you look kinda silly.

*Manus, using his implant, sends a communique to several starships nearby, indicating that he has a charter available and that he requests a meeting at his bar on the station* *Manus then sends a similar message through the station communications net*

The Bar on the "17th Parallel" is a small place with bad lighting and excellent drinks. Playing soft music in the background (23rd Century contemporary), with decor to match, this is the excellent place to rest while ships are refitted/refuelled/repaired, and the first place anyone goes for information of a slightly less-than-legal nature. Many shady deals have occurred here and its reputation is beginning to stretch even to systems as far away as Antares. The owner of the bar is known to the patrons as "Manus Celer Dei", both to those who, without his intervention would have died in one of the many scuffles that occur at times, and those who know of his previous occupation as an Alliance Soldier-citizen, and the reputation he earned in several engagements against the Ithkul. He prefers however, to keep his past closed to all but his trusted compatriots, many of whom were also former members of the Alliance defence force.

Thread posting Rules: 1. No post containing the actions of any other member 2. No destroying the bar 3. No character superpowers (I'll decide what is and is not a superpower) 4. If the previous post has broken any of the rules, ignore its entire contents. Back history: Since the development of the ZTT drive in 2675, mankind has spread through a small portion of the galaxy, colonising almost 400 star systems. As is usual in human history, conflicts between nations over resources and ideologies escalates into war and then dies down, waiting for the next conflict. The Station Reaches, located in the Tau Ceti system are a leftover from one such conflict. Designed as forward detection posts to locate incoming warfleets and warn the defending forces of their arrival (ZTT drives cannot function near a gravity well), they were scrapped when the Cetan economy could no longer support them and it became apparent that they were never going to be used. Today, the reaches fill a variety of functions, the ones nearer the two inhabited worlds mostly have been converted into microgee manufacturing centres, producing high-tech consumables at a much higher standard than the few remaining robotic factories on the surface. Those further from the planetary markets, such as the curiously named "17th Parallel" station, serve primarily as refuelling and resupply bases for the extensive asteroid mining operations in the system, with several of the larger stations also acting as ore refineries. There are still several stations which were abandonded that are inactive to this day, many of these have already been stripped of any materials of any worth but prospectors can still find a few items which may have some small value if sold on. The current political climate among the human worlds is one of rising tension, the three largest nations; The Terran League, The Ithkul Imperium and The kingdom of Exis vie constantly for supremacy doing everything short of declaring open war in order to gain an advantage over the other two. Industrial espionage and sponsored piracy are the norm in the frontier systems and it is a hard trader indeed that manages to survive in these regions without serious firepower. Nations of Humanity: The Terran League - Centred on Earth, the League is the oldest Nation in existance and is also the wealthiest. The secure core world trade routes provide massive benefits to a largely decadent and arrogant culture. The massive manufacturing capacity and research facilities of the Sol system alone are greater than that of any 6 other systems, and it is primarily here where the Leagues advantage lies. The League has several nominally independant systems under its direct control and its political influence among the outer rim colonies is staggering. Earth, being of course the Human homeworld, demands, and largly recieves, a great deal of respect from much of the human population. The Ithkul Imperium - The most overtly agressive of the great nations, Ithkul power is largely based on its massive space navy, and the fear this generates in the independant worlds bordering its space. The Imperium is, despite rumours to the contrary, a very humane dictatorship, with a perplexingly high standard of living for a nation that devotes such little effort in its economic activity. Several recent advances in asteroid mining techniques and space-surface tranist technology have gained the Ithkul a distinct advantage in colonising new systems. The Kingdom of Exis - Religiously devout Exis is basically a massive police state. While its cons!@#$%^&*ution guarantees its citizens varied and plentiful freedoms, citizens exercising those freedoms have an alarming tendency to disappear or suffer fatal accidents. Exis is the largest of the great nations, directly controlling more than 50 star systems, but it is also the most insular. Almost no trade goes through any Exis controlled space, only a few exotic luxuries and high-tech devices which support the lifestyle of the Aristocracy. That being said, the prices the aristocrats are willing to pay for such goods is enormous and the profits very handsome, if you're willing to ignore the means by which they were obtained. The Kanatis Alliance - A small group of 6 systems located at the frontier between Ithkul and League space, the Kanatis Alliance has had to be extremely resourceful in order to prevent being absorbed by either of the two great nations. With the highest general level of technology and education in human space, the Alliance is ruled not by a central government, but by all its citizens, who determine policy via neural implants, with appointed subsections of the population electing to specialise in the administration of certain enterprises. such as transportation or defence. Apart from the citizenry of the Alliance, the other strata of the Alliance population are the Soldiers. Soldiers of the Alliance are not considered human by the rest of the galaxy (and rightly so, their genetic structure is more than 20% artificial), grown in exowombs and maturing in only 5 years, the Alliance soldier is genetically and cybernetically enhanced for combat. It is these soldiers that provide both its main source of defence (although citizens acting in the capacity of soldiers are not uncommon) and its main source of income (mostly through mercenary work for one of the great nations). Soldiers consider themselves completely expendable next to that of non-soldier citizens and are willing to go to great lengths to ensure their safety. The Independant Worlds - These worlds are many and varied, more on these as they come up.

New bar starting, it won't be a continuation of this one. feel free to keep posting here.

Not until March 12 :/ We have whacked out release dates for stuff in NZ, half the time it's months later than everyone else, the other half we get the games first (things like Republic and Hordes of the Underdark)

Do as you will, I'm no longer moderating this thread. Gimme a couple of days and I'll start a new one, atm I'm bitter because of the delayed NZ release dates for Deus Ex: Invisible War

erm, *Manus explodes in a cloud of dust* onlookers later claim they heard his final words "Until the next bar......."

Yay Saddam has been captured, I don't think anyone here can honestly say they're sad to see him go. The trial will be completely fair and I'm sure the result isn't a foregone conclusion (coughing). That being said, the hunt for WMDs will still continue until the world media and popular attention forget about the whole issue, then the "search" will be conveniently dropped in favour of more "pressing" agendas. World politics at large makes me proud to be a New Zealander, noone seems to want to fly planes into our buildings, or fire masses of cruise missiles at our cities, and thats the way I like it.

Manus shakes his head in disappointment and serves everyone their drinks, he then calmly reaches under the counter and pulls out a neutrino fusion bolt pistol, arms it, and in a quiet voice says: "Any more fighting and some people will be leaving this establishment in several buckets."

Manus serves everyone their drinks. After cleaning the bar counter, Manus walks up to one of the tables by the lounge and places a reserved holo on it. Manus then transmits an encrypted charter notification to the 17thNets secondary AI communications node.